This invention relates to vehicle frames and, more particularly, to frames for passenger automobiles that provide safety for the occupants.
Previously known box-like frames for vehicles are provided with a supporting structure of longitudinal runners which are at the height of the bumper near the front of the vehicle, bend downward in the region of the so-called splash board and continue towards the rear of the vehicle below its bottom. In the bending zone these longitudinal runners always have a large bending moment which is difficult to control without large expenditures of material and resulting high costs. When force is exerted during a collision on these longitudinal runners in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle, the floor in the region of the bend tends to buckle out and therefore absorbs only a little of the energy of the collision. Consequently, the safety of passengers could be improved if the vehicle frame were constructed in such a manner that the forces acting on the supporting structure in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle, would be distributed more uniformly over the stable box-like framework.
On the one hand, such a construction would allow the kinetic energy to be dissipated better and, on the other hand, the individual frame parts could have smaller dimensions, resulting in a weight and cost reduction. Moreover, in vehicle construction it has always been the aim of designers to achieve the lowest possible weight per horsepower, i.e., the ratio of the weight of the vehicle to the installed capacity. In addition, it would be desirable during a collision to limit the energy-dissipating deformations of the frame to those parts of the vehicle outside the passenger space.